http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=105374&d=7&m=1&y=2008
The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily
Monday 7 January 2008 (29 Dhul Hijjah 1428)
UAE to Have Women Judges Soon
Arab News -
DUBAI, 7 January 2008 - Women in the United Arab Emirates
will soon be allowed to become judges, breaking a male monopoly over the
profession in the country, the justice minister was quoted as saying yesterday.
Women are currently being trained at the Judicial Institute
to become judges and prosecutors across the UAE once the law is amended, the
English-language daily Gulf News reported, quoting minister Mohammad ibn
Nakhira Al-Dhaheri.
"At present the law states that only a Muslim man is entitled
to assume the position of a judge," he said. He did not say when the law will
be changed.
The proposed law, which should cover the judiciary in the
seven-member federation, would make the UAE the second Gulf country after
Bahrain to allow women to become judges.
Women hold nine seats in the 40-member Federal National
Council, with eight appointed by the UAE president to join the half-elected
advisory body.
Commenting on the move, Sheikh Abdulmuhsin Al-Ubaikan, a
member of the Saudi Scholars Commission, said: "Women are prevented from being
judges. There has not been one case throughout Islamic history from the days of
the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) until today where a woman was
permitted to become a judge."
He added that men (judges) nowadays are facing difficult
times as judges and that a number of them had requested to be relieved of their
current positions because of the problems they face as judges. "Women should be
relieved of such a burden out of mercy," he added.
On the other side, Wajeha Al-Huwaider, a Saudi woman
activist, said the news from the UAE "is very promising."
She said the UAE government had been at the forefront of
other Gulf states in many of its decisions. For example, she praised the law
recently passed in the UAE preventing the arrest or detention of journalists.
Al-Huwaider added that all fields of work should be open to
women as "it is their right." Besides, there are court cases that deal with
women's issues which men have little knowledge of.
She pointed out that women always played a vital role in
Islamic society.
In Saudi Arabia on the other hand "when a woman has no
guardian to represent her, she is prevented from revealing her identity
(showing her face) to the judge."
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